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^ovcUc^icVj "^ctst ctnb ^Present, 



A SERMON 



PREACHED IN THE 



SECOND CHURCH, DORCHESTER, 



DECEMBER 26, ISGB. 



REV. JAMES 11. MEANS. 




BOSTON : 
PUBLISHED BY MOSES If. S ARGENT. 

No. U, CORNMIII.L. 
1S70. 



}%\-^ 



Rand, Avery, & Frye, Printers, Boston. 



4>^ 



CORRESPOX DEXCR 



Rev. James II. Means. Doiiciiester, Dec. 27, 1869. 

Dear Sir, — Tlie undersijrned, in common with those who listened to 
tlie timely historical discourse delivered by you yesterday morning, de- 
sire to express the gratitude which they feel for the instruction it aQbrded, 
and for tlie appropriate and able discharge of duty it involved. Believ- 
ing that its publication will subserve the general good in preserving the 
history of our ancient town, we most respectfully solicit a copy for the 
press. 

Marshall P. Wilder. 

J. W. Brooks. 

T. V. Shaw. 

C. T. S. TOWNSEND. 

Joseph Clapp. 



James C. Sharp. 
Elbridge Torrey. 
Thomas D. Quincy. 
Charles P. Tolman. 



DoRcnESTEij, Dec. 31, 1869. 

Gentlemen, — In compliance with your request, and with sincere 
thanks for your kind judgment, I iierewith transmit a copy of the ser- 
mon you desire for pul^lication. 

A\'ith much regard. 

Your friend and pastor, 

J. M. MEANS. 
Hon. M. 1'. Wilder and otliers. 



S E R M N. 



Psalms xvi. 6: "I rave a goodly heritage." 

At a meetinii: of the '"' Court of Assistants " of Mas- 
sacbusetts Colony, held at Charlestown, Sept. 7, 1030, 
corresponding to Sept. 17 of our present style, it was 
voted, "That Trimountain be called Boston; and 
Mattapan, Dorchester." The streams thus flowing 
from a common source, after winding in separate 
channels for nearly two hundred and forty years, are 
again to be united ; and as Dorchester thus termi- 
nates its independent existence, it seems a fitting 
time to survey the scenes of the past. Our ancient 
town has a name honorable from the first, and unsul- 
lied, and a history full of interest. 

Its first settlers formed part of the expedition, 
which, ten years after the settlement of the Pilgrims 
at Plymouth, was fitted out in the west of England 
under Gov. Winthrop. He himself embarked on 
board the " Arbella " at Cowes, Isle of Wight, while 
about a hundred and forty of his associates, from the 



6 



counties of Devon, Dorset, and Somerset, went on 
board the " Mary and John," of lour hundred tons 
burden, Capt. Squeb, master, lying in the harbor of 
Plymouth. They were accompanied to the place of 
embarkation by the Rev. John White, the minister 
of old Dorchester, a man of great learning and zeal, a 
member of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, 
belonging to the Church of England, but warmly 
esteemed by the Puritan party, who, it is said, " bore 
to him more respect than they did to their bishop." 
In all the preliminary arrangements, this good man 
had shown the greatest activity ; and, acting in the 
spirit of John Robinson, " he breathed into the enter- 
prise," as Bancroft says, " a higher principle than the 
desire of gain." It was, therefore, a most worthy 
impulse which led the first settlers to give to the new 
town, in honor of Mr. White, the name of Dorchester. 
The "Mary and John" sailed upon the 20th of 
March ; but, in those days of tedious navigation, 
more than two months were consumed by the voy- 
age ; and not until the 30th of May did they reach 
the shore. Capt. Squeb, I am sorry to say, treated 
them unhandsomely. He had engaged to take them 
to Charles River ; but he rudely put them ashore at 
Nantasket, refusing to go farther : though it is some 
satisfaction to read that he "was afterwards obliged to 
pay damages for this conduct." The company was 



inacle up of excellent m<aterial, "a very godly and re- 
ligious people, and many of them persons of note and 
figure." A church had been duly organized before 
starting, and Rev. John Maverick and Rev. John War- 
ham, who came with them, set apart as the pastors. 
Roger Clap was there, — a young man twenty-one 
years of age, destined to hold an honorable position in 
the new settlement. John Smith came also, of course ; 
and three others, unmarked perhaps at the time, but 
the ancestors of three major-generals of our army in 
the War of the Rebellion, — John Benham, from whom 
descended Gen. Benham; Stephen Terry, the progeni- 
tor of the valiant soldier who took Fort Fisher and 
Wilmington ; and Matthew Grant, to whom we trace 
the lineage of the President of the United States. 
Well might that little ship buffet bravely the tem- 
pests of the Atlantic, bearing as she did the I'uture 
fortunes of a great and struggling people, and the 
father of one who was to show C;i3sa.r's prowess, 
without Caesar's fatal ambition ! 

After a few days spent in exploration, the weary 
emiirrants were attracted towards "a neck of land fit 
to keep their cattle on " (the peninsula since known 
as South Ijoston), and established themselves in that 
vicinity. They built their first meeting-house on the 
plain, near what is now the corner of Cottage and 
Pleasant streets ; a small huilding with thatched roof. 



8 



and, perhaps, mud walls, — pallisadoed and guarded 
by night, because the depository of military as well as 
spiritual supplies. Here one of the pastors, engaged 
in the somewhat unclerical fimction of drying pow- 
der, overheated the firepan, and came near blowing 
himself and the meeting-house into pieces together, 
— a warning to all ministers to be careful in their 
treatment of combustibles. 

The first settlers struggled hard. " Many," says 
Roger Clap, " were in great straits for want of pro- 
visions for themselves and their little ones." Fish 
and clams — which they called, in Scripture phrase, 
" the abundance of the sea, and treasures hid in the 
sand," — were their special reliance. 

But of one commodity, which has always been ap- 
preciated by the true sons of Dorchester, they had 
enough; and that was — land: no limited area of 
four or five thousand acres, as at present ; but a ter- 
ritory stretching from South-Boston Point thirty-five 
miles by the road, to within one hundred and sixty 
rods of the Rhode-Island boundary, and five or ten 
miles in width ; including the modern towns of Mil- 
ton, Stoughton, Sharon, Canton, Foxborough, and 
Hyde Park, with parts of others, as well as the more 
important territory of South Boston. 

Yet the region must have been rather wild ; for 
we find such early records as this : — 



9 



Oct 30, 1G3S, — " For tlie better encouragement 
of any that shall destroy wolves, it is ordered that 
for every wolf any man shall take in the Dorchester 
plantation, he sliall have twenty shillings for the 
first, fifteen shillings for the second, and ten shillings 
for every wolf afterwards." 

And there were more formidable foes. Though 
the Indians were generally friendly, considerable 
anxiety on their account was felt during the Pequot 
War, and at other times ; and the house is still stand- 
ing at Neponset where a bold female of Elder George 
Minot's family was attacked and shot at by an In- 
dian ; but, shutting the doors, she returned the fire, 
wounding her assailant, and completing his discomfit- 
ure by a shower of hot ashes and coals. He was 
found dead the next day ; and the authorities of 
the colony gave her a silver bracelet, in token of her 
heroism, with the inscription, " She slew the Narra- 
gansct hunter." 

Morals and manners were pretty carefully watched 
in those early days. In 1039, the General Court for- 
bade " the excessive wearing of lace ; " and ordained 
that " hereafter no garment shall be made with short 
sleeves, whereby the nakedness of the arm may be 
discovered;" and, shrewdly foreseeing that some 
would say the dresses were already made, they fnr- 
tlier oidered that none should wear such, even if 



h 



10 



made, " unless they cover their arras to the wrist with 
linen or otherwise." '•' 

The selectmen were " the fathers of the town " in 
more than a figure. They looked after the children, 
and, in 1655, required that all parents and masters 
should catechize their children " in some sound and 
orthodox catechism." They also called to account 
those who were without employment, or not under 
family government. Thus, in 1672, Robert Styles 
" was called to answer for idleness;" and " it was found 
that neither he nor his wife improved their time as 
they should." Peter Lyon, who seems to have been 
of a milder nature than his name would indicate, had 
let his sons do as they pleased ; but promised the se- 
lectmen that " for the time to come he would look 
after them more diligently." Timothy Wales was 
obliged to appear with his boys, who were found 
"very ignorant, and unable to read." If such pater- 
nal oversight of ill-managed families were attempted 
now, the office would certainly be no sinecure. 

But the grand reliance of our fathers was the 

* In respect to temperfince, our fathers had soiiie peculiar ideas; though, after 
their fashion, they seem to have had a prohibitory law and the puialfy of confisca- 
tion ; for we find this record : — 

"A court holden at Boston, Aug. 7, 1632: It is ordered that y'^ remainder of 
Mr. Allen's Strong-water, being estimated aboute 2 Gallandes, shall be delivered 
into ye hands of y^ Deacons of Dorchester, for y^ benefit of ye poore there, for 
his selling of it dyvers tymes to such as were drunke by it, he knowing thereof." 
A duty of distribution wiiicli would rather astonish the deacons of the present 
generation. 



11 



church and the .school. These stood side by side; and 
it has been finely written that they felt they need 

" Ne'er drca'l the t-ceptic's puny hands, 
AVliile near the school the church-spire stands ; 
Nor fear the blinded bigot's rule, 
While near the church-spire stands the school." 

In regard to education, some of our townsmen 
have urged a high claim. On the 2()th of May, 1G39, 
a ttix of £20 yearly was laid upon the proprietors of 
Thompson's Island, for " the maintenance of a school 
in Dorchester." The island was at this time held by 
the town, under a grant from the General Court, so 
that " the proprietors " included the whole body of 
citizens. This was before any such action had been 
taken in Boston ; and it is affirmed to be " the first 
public provision made for a free school in the world, 
by a direct tax or assessment on the inhabitants of a 
town." In December, 1641, the grant was more fully 
and exactly confirmed in a w'ritten agreement signed 
by the principal citizens. The New-England system 
of free schools is our special boast : we believe it has 
given our people an intelligence and independence 
of character without which our civil liberties never 
would have been won, much less preserved ; that it 
has made New England what it is ; that it is an 
agency without which the South never can be regen- 



12 



erated : and surely, therefore, it is no slight honor to 
be able to trace back the system to so ancient an ori- 
gin here. I may add, that, from that early day to 
this, the town has been foremost in the cause of edu- 
cation. Repeated grants — at one time a thousand 
acres of land — were made for the support of schools. 
In 1674 Christopher Gibson, a soap-boiler, — but 
one who plainly believed in cleansing more than the 
clothing of the peojDle, — gave the most of his prop- 
erty " to the free school of Dorchester, for perpetu- 
ity," — a bequest now worth, perhaps, $50,000. 
Lieut.-Gov. William Stoughton, one of the most 
eminent of the sons of Dorchester, — who, though 
never ordained, preached for a season, and was invited 
six times to become pastor of the church in this 
town, and who, in an election-sermon before the Gen- 
eral Court, originated that phrase so often quoted, 
" God sifted a whole nation that he might send choice 
grain into this wilderness," — this large-hearted man, 
in 1701, left a legacy, now amounting to over 
$3,000, to increase the salary of the teachers; and 
it is quite in accordance with all the past, that the 
most costly building in the present town should be 
the edifice erected for our high school. 

The original system was remarkably solid. The 
" wardens," or committee, were chosen for life. Their 
rules make no mention of vacations ; but the scholars 



13 



were to attend school for eight months of the year, 
from seven o'clock in the morning till live in the after- 
noon ; and for the other months, from eight till four ; 
with an intermission from eleven o'clock to one; 
which, however, on Mondays, was shortened an hour, 
that they might show their teacher " what they liad 
learned on the Sabbath day preceding." The teach- 
ers were also to catechize their scholars every Satur- 
day' afternoon, and to regard " the rod of correction 
as an ordinance of God, necessary sometimes to be 
dispensed unto children." 

It would seem, however, that the girls hardly en- 
joyed equal privileges with the boys. They were 
sent to "dame schools," to be taught reading and 
spelling, sewing, and the working of samplers; but in 
1784, — only eighty-five years ago, — some advanced 
advocates of woman's rights carried this vote in the 
town-meeting : " That such girls as can read in the 
Psalter be allowed to go to the grammar-school from 
the 1st of June to the 1st of October." Dr. Harris 
says, that, in those days, the daughters were sometimes 
baptized in the First Church by the names of " Pa- 
tience," " Waitstill, " " Hope," and " Waitawhile ; " and 
I think we can see the significance of the names. 

But the Church towered above all other agencies 
of culture, in the judgment of our fathers. As we 
liave seen, they brought hither pastors nnd a regular 



14 



ecclesiastical organization. In 1636, this church, 
which was the oldest in the colony of Massachusetts 
Bay, emigrated to Windsor, Conn., and became the 
first church in that new commonwealth. Another 
was gatliered here in that year, and Rev. Richard 
Mather was installed as pastor. This eminent minis- 
ter — the father of Pres. Increase, and grandfather of 
Dr. Cotton Mathei; — was one of the leading spirits 
of his day. For thirty-three years he labored with 
apostolic faithfulness ; and I know not how I can so 
well show you the spirit of the man as by reading a 
few sentences from a farewell address, which, before 
his death, he placed with every family of the town.='= 

" First of all," says this godly pastor, '' I beseech 
you, be not slighty, but serious, in the great work of 
sorrow for your sins, of contrition and humiliation of 
soul in sight and sense thereof 

" 2. Labor to be men of sound judgment and 
understanding in the ways of religion. 

" 3. Content not yourselves to live without the 
fiiithful ministry, and other holy appointments and 
ordinances of Jesus Christ. 

" 4. Think it not enough to serve the Lord your- 
selves alone, in your own persons, but be sure to have 

* Copies of this are now very rare. I do not know of one in Dorchester. The 
Congregational Library in Boston possesses an imperfect copy; and there is one 
complete in the " Prince Library, " deposited with the Tublic Library of the city. 



15 



special care that your children and families may 
serve him also. 

" 5. Content not yourselves with the name of 
Christians, or church-members, nor with mere pro- 
fession, or an external form of religion ; but see that 
you be religious in sincerity and truth. 

'• 6. Above all things, be careful, in all your desires 
and endeavors, to make out after the enjoyment of 
God himself, and of communion with his blessed Ma- 
jesty as your chief good. 

" 7. With all seriousness and uprightness, choose 
the Lord Jesus, and him alone, as the all-sufficient way 
and means for your enjoyment of God the chief 
good." 

Would that the time permitted me to show how 
tenderly, and with what cogency of Scripture proof, 
these several exhortations are presented. " There 
were giants in those days;" and when we see their 
mighty hold on the Word of God and the powers of 
eternity, their faith, their fervency in prayer, their 
elevation above the world, we feel sometimes that 
the men of this day, sceptical, pleasure-loving, are 
not worthy to unloose the latcliet of their shoes. 

But the church history of Dorchester constitutes a 
topic by itself,* which, however leluctantly, we are 

* From 1030 to 180fi — a period of 178 years — there was but one clinrcli in tlie 
town. Most of tlie pastors en joyeil II Ioii« term of service: Kev. Iliclianl Matlicr 



16 



obliged to pass by, only alluding briefly to one re- 
markable enterprise. 

As we have claimed for this town priority in estab- 
lishing a free school, so may we also assert a prece- 
dence in the great work of Home Missions. In 1695, 
when Carolina and Georgia were almost wastes, a 
call came from those " southern plantations " for aid 
in establishing the institutions of the gospel. Here 
was the call met, and a church organized, with Rev. 
Joseph Lo^d, who had been a teacher in the town, as 

from 1636 to 1669; Rev. John Danfortli from 1682 to 1730; Rev. Jonathan Bowman 
from 1730 to 1773; when, after over forty years' foithful service, trouble arose, and 
he was accused, among other things (a solitary sufferer), of preaching too short 
sermons. He stoutly defended himself by asserting that he spoke fast, and " would 
deliver as much in fifteen minutes as some would in half an hour; " but it was of 
no use: the Dorchester people would have full measure. Rev. Moses Everett suc- 
ceeded him, being pastor from 1774 to 1793, when Rev. Thaddeus M. Harris, D.D., 
was settled, — a man of much learning, whose pastorate continued till 1836, and 
whose memory is still most affectionately che.-ished in the town. A very interesting 
incident in his history is worthy of record. While a student in Harvard College, he 
was exceedingly straitened for a support, and was one diy walking into Boston, 
giving way to many moody thoughts concerning his hard lot. Suddenly he per- 
ceived on the end of his walking-stick a metallic ring, which proved, on examina- 
tion, to be of gold. He took it to a jeweller, who not only purchased it for a liberal 
price, but pointed out the motto upon it: "God speed thee, friend." The 
young man burst into tears: Providence seemed to be rebuking his despondency; 
and he never forgot the lesson. 

While Dr. Harris w.as pastor of the First Church, the Second was organized in 
1808, and Rev. John Codman, D.D., ordained its minister. His devoted and useful 
labors were rendered for thirty-nine years, until his death in 1847. During his 
ministry the church steadily increased in numbers and efficiency, and his influence 
still lives. There are now in the town fourteen churches of different denomina- 
tions,— four Unitarian, four Trinitarian Congregationalist, two Baptist, two Method- 
ist, one Episcopal, and one Roman Catholic. 



17 



pastor, to go forth for the extension of Christ's king- 
dom. Mr. Danforth, of the First Church, dismissed 
them with his blessing, saying pithily, as he referred 
to God's providence as having opened the way, 
"There is somethino; worth the seeking;, if God lio;hts 
the candle." The enterprise was a snccess. The 
descendants of these colonists are livino; now in Geor- 
gia ; the church they founded still exists ; and the 
place where they settled has been bright with the 
radiance of liberty and piety ever since. It took 
the lead in resistance to British oppression in 1776: 
it hung back from secession in 18G1. A visitor 
once said that the inhabitants of that precinct differed 
from those of the surrounding country, '-as the Jews 
did from the Canaanites." 

In other ways, also, the town showed an enlarged 
public spirit. Repeated references are made in the 
records to the instruction of the Indians ; and in 1657, 
at the request of Rev. John Eliot, the town set apart 
six thousand acres at Punkapoag for tlieir use, — a 
grant at that time unprecedented. They have all 
passed away ; but some of you may remember how 
touchingly Mr. Everett spoke of one, who, within his 
remembrance, " used to come down once or twice a 
year to the seaside, hovered a day or two about 
Squantum, strolled off* into the woods, and, with 
plaintive wailings, cut away the bushes from an 



1; 



ancient mound, which, as he thought, covered the 
ashes of his fathers; and then went back, — a silent, 
melancholy man, the last of a perished tribe." 

In all the movements which preceded the great 
struggle of the Revolution, our fathers were active. 
As early as 1765 the town records begin to show 
the uneasiness of the people at the successive en- 
croachments on their liberties. They protested 
against the stamp-act; in 1770 they resolved to use 
no more tea, except in sickness; and when, in 1773, 
— after the tea was destroyed in Boston harbor, — a 
half-chest floated ashore near Commercial Point, and 
was picked up by one of our citizens, he was required 
to surrender the article, and make an apology in 
public town-meeting. The same year, resolutions 
w^ere passed in the strongest terms of patriotism, of 
which this is one : — 

"^Resolved, That, should this country be so unhap- 
py as to see a day of trial, for the recovery of its 
rights, by a last and solemn appeal to Him who 
gave them, we should not be behind the bravest of 
our patriotic brethren ; and that we will at all times 
be ready to assist our neighbors and friends when 
they shall need us, though in the greatest danger." 

In 1774, the town boldly voted to pay its tax to 
the treasurer appointed by the Provincial Govern- 
ment, instead of the treasurer of the Crown. In 



19 



1776, Nvliile tlie British troops hold possession of Bos- 
ton, intrenchments were suddenl}' thrown up on Dor- 
chester Heights, which led, in accordance with Wash- 
ington's expectations, to the evacuation of the city. 
It was the first marked success of the war. - The 
rebels," wrote Gen. Howe to Lord Dartmouth, " have 
done more in one night than uiy whole army would 
have done in a month." Among those " rebels" were 
a good proportion of Dorchester men, who, by special 
direction of the commander-in-chief, had been pre- 
paring fascines on a farm " in the upper part of the 
town." 

On the 23d of May of the same eventful year, be- 
fore the declaration of independence, the town voted^ 
^' that, if the Continental Congress should think best 
to declare an independency with Great Britain, we 
will support them with our lives and our fortunes." 
It was such voting as this, with the firm ring of intel- 
ligent and devoted patriotism, that strengthened the 
national assembly for its work. The strengtli of the 
nation lay, not in wealth or in numbers, but in just 
this tough fil)re of manly determination to resist 
oppression. 

When the war came, Dorchester never tliuchcd 
from her position. Money for bounties and wages 
was voted year after year with unfailing liberality; 
;iii(l. what cost far greater sacrifice, '"'nearly one-third 



20 



of the men belonging to the town, above the age of 
sixteen years, were in the army." There were but 
few Tories here, and they found it agreeable to change 
their residence. Our fathers, I suspect, used often to 
help them in such migrations ; for in a quaint journal 
kept by Col. Samuel Pierce, it is recorded, under 
date of April 19, 1777, "There were five Tories 
carted out of Boston, and tipt up in Roxbury, and 
ordered never to return, upon peril of death. There 
seems now to be some resolution in the people." 

When peace, won by a love of liberty which could 
never be subdued, at last returned, the town, like the 
country, entered on a long career of steady though 
uneventful prosperity. Its territory was reduced at 
different times, — the greatest loss being by the seiz- 
ure of South Boston, in 1804, to which Dorchester 
never gave consent; but the population constantly 
increased ; and the town, liberally supporting its 
schools and churches, enjoyed a character for stabili- 
ty, intelligence, and piety. 

Nature certainly did much to make it attractive. 
The hills which diversify its surface ; that outlook 
upon the bay studded with green islands, which never 
ceases to charm ; the harbor itself, enlivened by the 
white sails of one of the great commercial centres of 
our land ; the fields, rewarding industry and yielding 
pleasant fruit under skilful culture; the healthful 



21 



air IVoni the ocean, — all these give us an inheritance 
in which we may well rejoice. 

When we think, also, how much peace and iroocl- 
wili. and how little altercation, there has been here ; 
how much comfort in our modest homes, and how 
little poverty ; what general health has been enjoyed, 
what freedom from all epidemics, so that men live here 
to be old, and then live on, ten or twenty years, to be 
still older; when we argue, as one of our neighbors 
loves to, that " certainly the United States form 
the best country in the world, and Massachusetts 
is the foremost of the states, and Dorchester the 
pleasantest town in Massachusetts," — then surely it 
is demonstrated that '• the lines have fallen to us in 
pleasant places, and we have a goodly heritage." 

In every generation are the names of those who 
have acted well their part, in the fear of God. In 
that old burying-ground, first used in 1033. and hav- 
ing more ancient inscriptions than any cemetery in 
our land, save one in Jamestown, Va., there sleep not 
only the '' rude forefathers of the hamlet," but many 
of wide and lasting influence. Among the native- 
born sons of Dorchester have been a president of 
Harvard College, two governors of the common- 
wealth, two lieutenant-governors, — one of whom 
was also a chief-justice, — the first bishop of the 
Episcopal church in Massachusetts, and the most emi- 



22 



nent living American historian/'^ Most tenderly do 
we recall the memory of that scholar and orator who 
filled the highest offices of state at home and abroad ; 
the music of whose voice and diction charmed more 
ears than any other in our land ; who was spared by 
a kind Providence to give to his country the aid of 
his impassioned eloquence in the hour of her great- 
est peril ; and yet who never so poured his heart from 
his lips as when he came back to the cradle of his 
childhood, and rehearsed with filial fondness the story 
of his native town. 

Not less to be honored, though less distinguished 
than these, were they, among the living and the dead, 
whose actions showed, onl}^ a few years ago, that Dor- 
chester was true to the spirit of her early days. 
When the War of the Rebellion commenced, and 
through its progress, what general unanimity of feel- 
ing here ; what liberality of giving ; what quick re- 
sponse to the country's call from hundreds of our gen- 
erous youth; what jjatience of endurance in many 
lonely and bereaved homes ; what steadiness of pur- 
pose till the end came : — and then, looking back, we 
found, that, with a population of about ten thousand, 
we had sent twelve hundred and seventy-seven to 

* Reference is made to Pres. Mather, Gov. Everett, Gov. G irdaer, Lieut.- Gov. 
and Chief Justice Stoughton, Lieut. -Gov. Taylor, Bishop Bass, and Hon. J. L. 
Motley. 



23 



the field ; and when we reared the nioninnental shaft 
to the " unreturning l)rave," there were ninetj'-seven 
names of our townsmen (oh, what precious names!) 
to be recorded upon it. 

" We have a goodly heritage;" and, taking now a 
final glance at our whole history, I am impressed 
with this fact: that we owe whatever has been bright 
and honorable, above all, to our fathers' /ai^A m God. 
AVe have no miserable legends of ancestors suckled 
by wolves, such as the historians of Rome recorded ; 
but true narratives of an exile for conscience' sake, 
dan foundations laid in faith and prayer. And, while 
much outwardly has changed, the savor of that seri- 
ous, earnest piety remains. It has given us a pecu- 
liar character ; and, if we w'ould preserve that, let us 
support Christian schools and the ordinances of the 
gospel. 

Education ought not to be sectarian ; but it must 
be religious, — tliat is, based upon a culture whicli 
reco'mizes God, our accountabilitv to him, and the 
authority of his revelation. Our churches also, with 
their appointed ministry and services, are essential to 
the preserving of our inheritance. If we would keep 
the institutions we have received, we must cherish 
the truths in whicli tliey originated. A sneering and 
unbelieving age cannot hold the possession won in 



24 



an age of faith. It will be spoiled by the Philis- 
tines. 

A solemn responsibility is laid npon us ; and if no 
longer under a separate name we fulfil our w^ork, it 
will be our happiness to be joined with those of com- 
mon memories and a kindred spirit. Boston is a 
Puritan city; it is even widely regarded as the very 
representative of Puritanism ; it has a character, 
moulded by the influences of the Bible, which distin- 
guishes it from other great cities of our land. 

As it now throws open its gates, it offers us a gen- 
erous welcome ; and we are genially to accept the 
alliance. We shall soon be at home : we need not 
banish one cherished memory, any more than the 
daughter forgets her father's house when she enters 
beneath the roof of her husband. We are to come 
into a larger community, and ought, therefore, to 
cultivate larger ideas and broader sympathies ; re- 
joicing that we shall be " citizens of no mean city," 
but of one whose influence is felt through the land, 
and felt for good ; whose boast is not wealth, but 
thought; whose " notions " are truths; whose prog- 
ress and glory, in which we are henceforth to share, 
is in the line of our own fathers' aims and prayers. 
May the uniting streams pour onward through the 
great future with a peaceful and ever-widening flow ! 



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